Long term intravenous therapy to a patient oftentimes requires that a portal reservoir (also may be referred herein as port or portal) be implanted to the patient. The medicament stored in the port is fed slowly to the patient via a catheter connected to the portal. To refill the portal, conventionally a needle is inserted through the skin of the patient into a septum of the portal so that the portal may be refilled with the desired medicament. As with the use of any needle or sharps instruments, there is always a chance that the user, or a bystander, may be accidentally pricked by the contaminated needle when it is removed from the patient. Such accidental injury may well be serious as the tip of the needle is contaminated with the fluid from the patient.
A prior device used for shielding the contaminated tip of the needle is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,613,015, assigned to the assignee of the instant application and marketed under the trade name GRIPPER PLUS. The disclosure of the '015 patent is incorporated by reference herein. In the '015 patent, a right angle needle for accessing the portal is disclosed. The '015 device has the horizontal portion of its right angle needle embedded in an arm that has a distal portion hingedly connected to uprights of a base. The vertical portion of the needle extends through an opening at the proximal portion of the base. Medicament or fluid is fed to the right angle needle via a catheter connected to the distal end of the horizontal portion of the needle. A well or catch is formed above the main body of the base adjacent the opening so that when the arm is pivotally raised relative to the base and when the needle is fully pulled out of the base, the tip of the needle would flex forward so as to be entrapped in the catch adjacent to the opening. Even though surrounded by a dam, the tip of the needle nonetheless is exposed to the environment and viewable by the patient, and there is a remote chance that contaminated fluid at the tip of the needle may adhere to the well, or may be splattered unnecessarily around the area of the well or beyond. A similar right angle device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,721.
After accessing the portal and refilling it, the device of the '015 patent is removed from the skin of the patient. Any subsequent refilling of the portal requires that a new right angle needle device be used to gain access to the portal. This repeated insertion of a needle to the patient tends to cause discomfort, at the very least, to the patient.
There is therefore a need for a portal access device that may be secured to the patient on a long term basis so as not to subject the patient to repeated inserts by needle sharps.
There is also a need for a sharps protection device having the tip of its needle that, once removed from the patient, will not be exposed to the environment or seen by the patient.